betaine

Summary

Summary: A naturally occurring compound that has been of interest for its role in osmoregulation. As a drug, betaine hydrochloride has been used as a source of hydrochloric acid in the treatment of hypochlorhydria. Betaine has also been used in the treatment of liver disorders, for hyperkalemia, for homocystinuria, and for gastrointestinal disturbances. (From Martindale, The Extra Pharmacopoeia, 30th ed, p1341)

b>Betaine and Na(+) symport has been extensively studied in the osmotically regulated transporter BetP from Corynebacterium glutamicum, a member of the betaine/choline/carnitine transporter family, which shares the conserved LeuT-like fold ..

..Pre-and postnatal choline availability is important for neurodevelopment in rodents. Choline is oxidized to betaine that serves as an osmoregulator and is a substrate in the betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase reaction, which ..

OpuA, an osmotically regulated binding protein-dependent transport system for the osmoprotectant glycine betaine in Bacillus subtilis

We identified a choline, betaine and carnitine transporter, designated Cbc, from Pseudomonas syringae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa that is unusual among members of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter family in its use of multiple ..

Osmotic control of opuA expression in Bacillus subtilis and its modulation in response to intracellular glycine betaine and proline pools

Glycine betaine is an effective osmoprotectant for Bacillus subtilis. Its import into osmotically stressed cells led to the buildup of large pools, whose size was sensitively determined by the degree of the osmotic stress imposed...

Identification of two gene clusters and a transcriptional regulator required for Pseudomonas aeruginosa glycine betaine catabolism

Glycine betaine (GB), which occurs freely in the environment and is an intermediate in the catabolism of choline and carnitine, can serve as a sole source of carbon or nitrogen in Pseudomonas aeruginosa...

b>Betaine homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT), a Zn(2+)-dependent thiolmethyltransferase, contributes to the regulation of homocysteine levels, increases in which are considered a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases...

Plasma lipids and betaine are related in an acute coronary syndrome cohort

Low plasma betaine has been associated with unfavorable plasma lipid profiles and cardiovascular risk. In some studies raised plasma betaine after supplementation is associated with elevations in plasma lipids...

..Retention is reduced by increasing the water content and the buffer concentration. Capillary electrophoresis migration times are affected by the choice of buffer anion, with low pH citrate buffers favoured...

..the bifunctional protein that it encodes; we predicted this protein to be sufficient for the synthesis of the betaine lipid diacylglyceryl-N,N,N-trimethylhomoserine (DGTS), a major membrane component in Chlamydomonas...

Molecular basis of transport and regulation in the Na(+)/betaine symporter BetP

..Here we report the determination of the X-ray structure of a member of the family of betaine/choline/carnitine transporters, the Na(+)-coupled symporter BetP from Corynebacterium glutamicum, which is a ..

b>Betaine is an essential osmolyte and source of methyl groups and comes from either the diet or by the oxidation of choline. Its metabolism methylates homocysteine to methionine, also producing N,N-dimethylglycine...

Determination of choline, betaine, and dimethylglycine in plasma by a high-throughput method based on normal-phase chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

The quaternary ammonium compounds, choline and betaine, and dimethylglycine (DMG) reside along a metabolic pathway linked to the synthesis of neurotransmitters and membrane phospholipids and to homocysteine remethylation and, therefore, ..

..and ProU transport systems of Escherichia coli mediate the uptake of several osmoprotectants including glycine betaine. Here we report that both ProP and ProU are involved in the transport of the potent osmoprotectant proline ..

Liam F FitzsimmonsDepartment of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont, USAJ Bacteriol 194:4718-26. 2012

..is abundantly produced by eukaryotes and plays an important role as a precursor of the osmoprotectant glycine betaine. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, glycine betaine has additional roles as a nutrient source and an inducer of the ..

..of this study was to determine whether VLDL secretion was reduced by chronic ethanol consumption and whether betaine supplementation, that restores PEMT activity and prevents the development of alcoholic steatosis, could normalize ..

Long-term effect of betaine on risk factors associated with the metabolic syndrome in healthy subjects

Corynebacterium glutamicum is equipped with four secondary carriers for compatible solutes: identification, sequencing, and characterization of the proline/ectoine uptake system, ProP, and the ectoine/proline/glycine betaine carrier, EctP

..Three metabolites of the dietary lipid phosphatidylcholine--choline, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and betaine--were identified and then shown to predict risk for CVD in an independent large clinical cohort...

Choline metabolism and risk of breast cancer in a population-based study

Arabidopsis thaliana belongs to those plants that do not naturally accumulate glycine betaine (GB), although its genome contains two genes, ALDH10A8 and ALDH10A9 that code for betaine aldehyde dehydrogenases (BADHs)...

Glycinebetaine: an effective protectant against abiotic stress in plants

..intracellular concentrations of electrolytes by accumulating high concentrations of the nonperturbing osmolyte betaine. When kidney-derived Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells are cultured in hypertonic medium, they accumulate ..

Synergism between the chaperone-like activity of the stress regulated ASR1 protein and the osmolyte glycine-betaine

Choline is involved in the synthesis of phospholipids, including blood lipids, and is the immediate precursor of betaine, which serves as a methyl group donor in a reaction converting homocysteine to methionine...

..and PchP enzyme activity are positively regulated by phosphorylcholine degradation products, including glycine betaine. Here we report that the induction of plcH and pchP transcription by glycine betaine is mediated by GbdR, an AraC ..

Cheng JiUSC UCLA Research Center for Alcoholic Liver and Pancreatic Diseases, Research Center for Liver Disease and Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 90033, USAGastroenterology 124:1488-99. 2003

..the antioxidative defense enzymes and to detect the alterations of renal microscopy after carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) administration in rats and to investigate the possible protective effects of betaine against CCl4-induced renal damage.

..The phosphorylation of choline to phosphocholine and oxidation of choline to betaine yielded 10-fold higher levels of these metabolites in the cancer cells...

Metabolic profiling in Maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) and young onset type 2 diabetes fails to detect robust urinary biomarkers

Anna L GloynOxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomPLoS ONE 7:e40962. 2012

..No single metabolite contributed significantly to the separation of the patient groups. However, betaine, valine, glycine and glucose were elevated in the urine of HNF1A-MODY subjects compared to the other subgroups...

Betaine and folate status as cooperative determinants of plasma homocysteine in humans

Two published studies have demonstrated that betaine in the circulation is a determinant of plasma total homocysteine, but none had sufficient power to investigate the possible effect modification by folate status.

Betaine, a promising new agent for patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: results of a pilot study

OBJECTIVES: No effective therapy currently exists for patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Betaine, a naturally occurring metabolite of choline, has been shown to raise S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) levels that may in turn ..

Head group specificity in the requirement of phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis for very low density lipoprotein secretion from cultured hepatocytes

..osmolarity and reduced temperature is due in part to the transport and accumulation of the osmolyte glycine betaine. Previously we showed that glycine betaine transport was the result of Na(+)-glycine betaine symport...

Osmotic regulation of transcription: induction of the proU betaine transport gene is dependent on accumulation of intracellular potassium

L SutherlandJ Bacteriol 168:805-14. 1986

The proU locus, which encodes a high-affinity betaine transport system, and the kdp operon, which encodes a potassium transport system, are the principal osmoresponsive genes in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium...

The association between betaine and choline intakes and the plasma concentrations of homocysteine in women

Elevated total homocysteine (tHcy), a risk factor for many chronic diseases, can be remethylated to methionine by folate. Alternatively, tHcy can be metabolized by other 1-carbon nutrients, ie, betaine and its precursor, choline.

Choline and betaine provide methyl groups for one-carbon metabolism. Humans obtain these nutrients from a wide range of foods. Betaine can also be synthesized endogenously from its precursor, choline...

In this work the effect of betaine on the structure and aggregation of the GST-GFP fluorescent fusion protein was studied by different complementary techniques, including electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, circular dichroism, ..

Relationship of dimethylglycine, choline, and betaine with oxoproline in plasma of pregnant women and their newborn infants

Russell W FriesenNutrition Research Program, Child and Family Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada V5Z 4H4J Nutr 137:2641-6. 2007

Choline and glycine are inter-related through their roles in methyl metabolism. Choline is metabolized to betaine, which donates a methyl group to homocysteine to form methionine, also generating dimethylglycine, which is further ..

Genetic engineering of the biosynthesis of glycinebetaine leads to increased tolerance of photosynthesis to salt stress in transgenic tobacco plants

..The enlargement of flowers was related to an increase in the size and number of cells, and reflected the pleiotropic effect of the codA transgene on the expression of genes involved in the regulation of cell division...

..The low efficiency and toxicity of transfection in a primary culture of hepatocytes using cationic lipids remains a limiting step to the study of gene function and the setting up of non-viral gene therapy...

Two evolutionarily closely related ABC transporters mediate the uptake of choline for synthesis of the osmoprotectant glycine betaine in Bacillus subtilis

Biosynthesis of the compatible solute glycine betaine in Bacillus subtilis confers a considerable degree of osmotic tolerance and proceeds via a two-step oxidation process of choline, with glycine betaine aldehyde as the intermediate...

..population of diabetic subjects (Type 1 and Type 2), the urine excretion of the renal osmolyte, glycine betaine, was compared to known markers of glycemic control, renal dysfunction and to the excretion of related betaines, ..

Plasma dependent and independent accumulation of betaine in male and female rat tissues

Nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) is a common liver disease, associated with insulin resistance. Betaine has been tested as a treatment for NAFL in animal models and in small clinical trials, with mixed results...

Glycinebetaine accumulation is more effective in chloroplasts than in the cytosol for protecting transgenic tomato plants against abiotic stress

..Thus, an increase in total GB content does not necessarily lead to enhanced stress tolerance, but additional accumulation of chloroplastic GB is likely to further raise the level of stress tolerance beyond what we have observed...

Since betaine is an osmolyte and methyl donor, and abnormal betaine loss is common in diabetes mellitus (>20% patients), we investigated the relationship between betaine and the post-methionine load rise in homocysteine, in diabetes ..

b>Betaine serves as a methyl donor in a reaction converting homocysteine to methionine. It is commonly used for the treatment of hyperhomocysteinemia in humans, which indicates it may be associated with reduced risk of atherosclerosis...

Plasma and urine betaine and dimethylglycine variation in healthy young male subjects

..intervention, specifically these being able to rectify abnormal methionine/homocysteine metabolism such as betaine and S-adenosylmethionine, have been well-accepted;thus, our approach is designed to not only more completely ..

..specific aims are: Aim 1) Testing the hypothesis that dietary phosphatidylcholine metabolites choline, TMANO and betaine are both diagnostic markers for cardiac risk and mechanistically linked to development of atherosclerosis...

..for the comprehensive assessment of lung function by producing hyperpolarized tracer molecules (bicarbonate/CO2, betaine, cyclopropanedimethanol, and pyruvate) for MR imaging and spectroscopy of both normal and diseased lungs...

..An emphasis of the Training Program is the recruitment and training of a diverse cohort of trainees. This emphasis not only addresses national needs but also provides a more inclusive educational experience for the trainees. ..

..of other nutrients involved in one-carbon metabolism, including vitamins B6 and B12, methionine, choline, and betaine. We have large prospective studies of women and men with existing data on alcohol consumption and drinking ..

..experimental model is proU, a locus which encodes a transport system for the ubiquitous osmoprotectant glycine betaine. proU is induced strongly and rapidly in response to the changes in intracellular ion composition that accompany ..

..Of the small number of reported clinical trials in Rett syndrome (RTT), only an ongoing study of folate and betaine takes advantage of this new genetic information. Consequently, the proposed workshop is quite timely...

..2) Project 2: will increase understanding of how the renal osmolyte transporter, betaine/GABA transporter (BGT1) is regulated by purifying and then cloning a transcription factor called TonE binding ..

..The results from the proposed grant will enhance understanding of the role of choline intake in humans and lay the groundwork for future studies on choline intake and overall methyl-group-deficient diet and cancer. ..

..The format encourages discussions between the presenters and the fellows, residents and junior investigators in attendance. Similarly, the poster sessions also highlight the activities and the needs of the younger participants. ..

..Detailed functional knowledge of vascular routes to the growth plate, and movement of molecules within the growth plate, is essential as thought is given to targeting therapeutic agents to the growth plate. ..

..The ultimate goal of our studies is to relate our results to the age-associated changes in memory in humans, and to develop juvenile growth-factor replacement strategies that could benefit people. ..